


The Boy in the Tower

by zappactionsdower



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: M/M, Monsters, fantasy with fantastical beasts, idk man i like watched the witcher and then i played ff12 so...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:07:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24380293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zappactionsdower/pseuds/zappactionsdower
Summary: “Are you lost?”“No.”  The boy fidgeted, “I’m not…”“Oh. Well.  You can come with Glenn and me.  Whenever he gets around to wherever we are.  He gets lost.”  Felix had a fantastic sense of direction.  Not like his big brother.“I can’t.  I can’t leave the tower.”That was dumb.  Who would want to live in a tower? “Why not?”“Because…”  The boy bowed his head, clutching tighter to the flowers Felix had given him.  “I’m a monster.”
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Comments: 20
Kudos: 111





	1. Flowers For A Friend

The rabbit’s ears twitched, listening for any kind of disturbance. Above it, birds chattered like normal. It stepped, hesitantly, out from beneath its safehaven. Still quiet, still…

The arrow flew wide, lodging itself in the tree to the creature’s right. The rabbit bounced away into a thick patch of briar.

Felix cursed. Behind him, his big brother mussed his hair.

“You get too impatient, Fe-Fe.” Glenn neatly avoided his brother’s hand as Felix reached up, trying to swat him into silence. “Remember – the best hunters are the ones that can _wait_.”

“Shut up. It was the wind.” Felix sniped sourly, trying hard to compose himself. “Besides, it’s not like you caught anything either.”

His brother clicked his tongue. “Give me that.”

Felix sniffed haughtily as he handed the weapon over, hesitating as Glenn poked around for an arrow out of his quiver.

His brother knelt down, very, very still as he pulled the bow back.

“Are you go…”

 _SNAP_.

The arrow flew, and somewhere past Felix’s line of vision, there was a pained shriek.. Above them, birds scattered.

Glenn reached over, lazily patting Felix’s head again. “And _that’s_ how you do it, little brat. Go get the kill.”

“Showoff.” he muttered, pushing Glenn away. Whatever.

The briars and undergrowth was thick, but nothing they hadn’t had to deal with before. There would be more demanding challenges, once they became full Hunters. And…

Felix stopped, hesitating as he noticed a bright spot of color beneath the dark brown foliage.

‘Fe-Fe?”

“Isn’t this…?” he frowned poking at a light blue crescent petal. And indeed, there were flowers mixed in with the brars, blue with the barest hints of yellow on the inside.

“Those are Fhirdiad Anemones,” Glenn gripped his shoulder. “Haven’t ever seen them in the wild before.”

They felt… soft, and as Felix’s finger brushed along the inside of a drooping petal, something began buzzing in the back of his ears. He leaned close, and was hit with the distinct smell of pine and _cold_.

“Fe-Fe?”

That smell…

He saw more, winding through the undergrowth. Felix pushed forward, ignoring the unpleasant yank of briars against his hair and bag as he searched for more blue. There. And there, farther away. Behind him, his brother’s voice became a distant echo, drowned out by buzzing.

The undergrowth thinned, turning in to a crumbling stone tunnel. Felix stepped carefully through it, surrounded by soundless voices and the smell of winter.

The tunnel opened outwards, and Felix squinted as he stepped out into a high-walled garden of blue and yellow flowers. A low tower rose upwards in the center, statues dotting the staircase leading to an arched doorway at the top.

Weird.

There definitely hadn’t been a tower in sight along the horizon. Or stone walls either. But… maybe it was just because it was a _short_ tower?

Felix drifted closer, looking down at the ground and the scattered groups of flowers. At home,, the flowers in the town were carefully-managed, rows and rows of reds and blacks and gold-yellows that a gardener spent way too much time tending to. Here, it was all in uneven patches, even growing through the grey-white stones of a pathway.

A patch of bright yellow daffodils stood out from a statue of a wolf. Felix leaned down to pick them, mostly because Annette always grumbled if he didn’t bring her a present of some sort during their hunting trips. He stuffed the flowers into his bag, next to the slick blue vials she’d sent him away with. _Glenn_ never thought to bring elixirs with them.

Speaking of…

Felix looked around. Where was his brother? Hadn’t he followed? Surely there had to be someone, somewhere else…

“Hello?”

Felix jerked, turning his head as his hand went to his weapon.

There was a girl at the edge of the tower, her hand resting against the bottom edge of the stone staircase. She wore a plain blue tunic with the barest hints of fur along the collar, and her sunshine-yellow hair hung around her face, framing her big blue eyes. Felix could see a scabbard at her hip.

Felix’s fingers twitched against his weapon, but he forced himself to relax. Girls definitely weren’t dangerous.

Okay.

Most girls.

Annette’s boots _were_ pretty scary.

“Hi.”

“Are you lost?” the girl said, walking forward. “It’s been some time since someone’s come through here.”

“No. I don’t get lost.”

“Oh.” The girl blinked, tilting her head. “You have a sword?”

“Of course I do.” Felix puffed up, “So do you.”

“Do you want to spar?”

“My dad would ground me if I hit a girl.” Then again, his father also had just returned from dispatching a Witch in the northwestern region of the Empire. And Glenn had taken out a manticore that was protecting its brood, so maybe they were both dumb.

“I’m not a girl.” The not-girl pouted, and the look did funny things to Felix’s stomach. 

“Oh. Sorry.” Well, it wasn’t like Glenn was there yet so… He drew the short sword at his hip. “Just promise you won’t tell on me.”

The not-girl… boy stepped forward, pulling out his own weapon. “Okay.”

And for a little while, there was only the sound of quick breaths and clashing steel. The boy was good, and quick, and Felix couldn’t stop a smile from breaking out on his face. His father always took it too easy on him, and Glenn was a jerk, but the other was actually taking him seriously. Like a _real_ fighter.

The boy disarmed him but Felix launched himself forward, yanking his opponent’s sword away. And then they were grappling against the grass, laughing in earnest as they tried to get the upper hand.

Finally, Felix grabbed onto the boy’s wrist and sat on his chest, crowing in victory. Beneath him, his opponent laughed, skin flushed and his hair spread out against the blue flowers.

“I win!” Felix puffed his chest out, “Say it!”

“You win!” The boy squirmed, smiling wide. “You’re the best swordsman ever!”

“Of course I am.” Felix drew back, flopping cross-legged onto an earthy spot. “I’m a Fraldarius.”

The boy sat up and began fastidiously brushing the dirt off his clothes and hair. “Is that like being a knight?”

“It’s better.” His family had been knights once, a long time ago. Or so he was told. The _best_ knights, back before the Empire’s founding.

“Then… I should give you a prize. For winning.” The boy scrabbled over and came back with his sword. He knelt down and bowed his head, presenting the weapon with a flourish. “For the Fraldarius.”

Felix’s heart thumped. He hesitated, looking at the weapon with fascination. Now that it wasn’t swinging at him, it looked… pretty. The blade was silver-white, and he could make out a complicated etching of a gold lion on the pommel. The hilt was even more impressive, with blue marble intermixed with gold cording.

“I can’t. I mean.. I want to but…” But it wouldn’t be right, right?

“Oh.” The boy frowned, a little disappointed. “If you…”

“No. Hold on.” Felix went to his bag which was set a few feet away, along with his quiver and bows. He pulled out the daffodils, which were already squashed. “Let’s trade instead.” He held the flowers out, trying very hard to not feel embarrassed at how they flopped awkwardly to the left. “For you. It looks like your hair.”

The boy smiled and took the offered gift. His gloved fingers were warm, and tingly. “Thank you.”

Felix clutched at the sword with a firm nod. “Okay. So… why are you here anyway?”

That didn’t seem to be the right thing to ask. The boy hesitated, looking away at the tower. “I have to be.”

“Are you lost?”

“No.” The boy fidgeted, “I’m not…”

“Oh. Well. You can come with Glenn and me. Whenever he gets around to wherever we are. He gets lost.” _Felix_ had a fantastic sense of direction. Not like his big brother.

“I can’t. I can’t leave the tower.”

That was dumb. Who would want to live in a _tower_? “Why not?”

“Because…” The boy bowed his head, clutching tighter to the flowers Felix had given him. “I’m a monster.”

“You’re not a monster.” Felix had _seen_ pictures of monsters. They had teeth, and claws, and didn’t have swords. “Who called you a monster?”

“I…”

“FELIX!”

Felix swiveled his head, cursing. Glenn was running up at a breakneck pace, his hair and clothes entirely unkempt. His big brother rushed down, grabbing onto Felix’s shoulders as the young boy squeaked in annoyance.

“What the _fuck_ , Felix?” Glenn snapped, “Did you want to get eaten by bears?!”

“No.” His brother was such a jerk. “I’m fine. We were just…”

“We?” Glenn looked past him, frowning. “Fe-Fe…”

Felix blinked. He turned his head back

And saw nothing.

Just a few old, half-crumbled stone waypoints and blue flowers.

“But..” Felix wrinkled his nose up, unsure. “But I was…”

“Goddess, Dad’s going to _kill me_. Come on.” Glenn gripped his shoulder, tugging him along towards where his bag was sitting up against a tree. Felix squawked, clutching tighter to his sword for fear of dropping it.

“But there was… he was..” Felix protested, “Glenn…”

“Don’t talk. And don’t you _dare_ say anything about this to Dad.” Glenn stopped, noticing the weapon his little brother was holding to for all he was worth. “Where did you find that?”

“There was…” Felix stopped, looking down. It.. sounded weird, didn’t it? “Nothing. If found it in some roots.”

Glenn rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Just don’t tell Dad. He’ll worry that it’s cursed.”

That night, Felix hid the sword deep beneath his mattress where no one else could find it but him.

He tried very hard to forget the smell of winter that wafted through his open window.


	2. Gold for a Goat-saver

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this, so it has blood.

Felix _hated_ monsters.

“Felix! On your left!”

He dodged a huge claw as it swiped at his temple. Another roll, to avoid the blackened, beating feathers above him. Somewhere behind him, he could hear Sylvain grunt as he wrestled the little beasts as they chittered and tried to devour his feet.

There was a burst of fire that flew by Felix's ear and smashed in to the creature's huge black wings. The harpy shrieked as it fell back, unable to fly with its feathers engulfed in flames.

Felix shoved forward, slicing his weapon through the creature's neck.

Black blood sprayed everywhere as the creature flailed, collapsing into a heap,

Mostly all over Felix.

Goddess.

He _hated_ monsters.

“Well..” Sylvain stabbed through the remaining harpy fledglings and then began to crush the unhatched eggs. “That was disgusting”

 _Sylvain_ was disgusting. Felix glowered and wiped the black ichor away from his eyes. “ _You_ wanted to take this job.”

“No, _I_ wanted to go south and deal with that roc problem. You wanted to take this job because, if I remember properly, you said it was easy money.”

'And both of you didn't listen when I told you harpies usually don't come this close to a town if they aren't nesting. So don't complain.” Lysithea shook her sleeves, indignant. “Really. I wanted to at least document this thing.”

“You can have it.” Felix kicked the harpy corpse and walked back in the general direction of the village. “I'm taking a bath.”

“Felix the hero, always ready to leave a mess.” Sylvain sighed. “Come on. Let's burn this.”

The water was cold, but it got the job done. His clothing would need another round of cleaning, but Felix wore what he did for convenience over comfort.

The village was small. Too small, just like most of the towns on the outskirts. Too few people, with too few _important_ resources for the Imperial army to protect. And most Hunters preferred to get paid over protecting some backwater village full of chickens and goats that wouldn't be missed.

At some point, it must have been different. This close to the north, to the old outskirts, there had been a whole other country, and lands even past that. Before the Empire came along, and everything crumbled into waste and disrepair as monsters crept closer and closer to the borders.

At least that's what the Hunters said, in low voices, far away from Imperial soldiers.

He tugged a loose pair of trousers and walked back to the small room they'd lodged in. Not the worst bed he'd ever been in, but certainly nothing to celebrate either. He hadn't had a chance to clean his weapon, and he could already hear his brother's voice chiding him about a Hunter's sword being _special_.

It didn't look that special, covered in harpy blood.

Felix rustled through his old bag and pulled out a plain cloth and his cleaning oil. His nerves settled. Everything outside faded to the singular focus of getting all the grime off his weapon.

The cords around the handle would need to be replaced. Same with the torn, patchy leather around the pommel,. Beneath it, he could still see the bright gold of a lion peeking through. Best to keep it hidden, because people got... _funny_ when they saw something that could be worth a few coins.

“I could have chosen to go in to the army. Or be a mercenary,” Felix murmured to no one in particular. There was no reason he _had_ to stick with monster hunting on backwater towns, especially not with a womanizing layabout and a research-mage that saw no problem in entering a pixie ring without proper protection.

Still.

Felix ran his fingers over the edge of the blade. His thumb brushed over the lion etching, considering.

A weapon like this wasn't made to hurt people.

“This is all we have... but it's yours.” The mayor of the small town held out a pathetically small leather pouch. “Unless you would prefer your payments in goats.”

“It's always a pleasure to help out the helpless,” Sylvain grabbed the pouch and Felix didn't miss the little wince as he jingled it. “Village maidens need protection too, right?”

Lysithea stomped on his foot. Or tried. Sylvain had started learning the most efficient way to avoid her heel.

“Anyway,” Lysithea leaned close, her pink eyes lighting up. She reached in to her rucksack and pulled out a leatherbound journal full of yellowed pages and a thick stick of graphite. “You said the harpy attacks had increased recently. Is there anything special? Are there more out there? Roughly how many goats do you think they've eaten?”

The mayor blinked, slightly taken aback. “Ah... well. We have had more rain lately, but I don't know why they've increased. We never venture out past the river line. Might be a lot of them, might not be. But that's old Lions territory, and none of us go there.”

“The Lions?” Lysithea paused to look down at her frayed journal. “I seem to remember reading about it.”

“Some of our elder villagers might remember it. I was too young to remember anything but the Imperial armies that would go in to the forest and never come back.” The man leaned back, thoughtfully twining his thin white mustache. “The ruins might still be there though. Deep, deep inside. I always wondered if that tower was real.”

Felix's chest tightened. “What?”

The mayor glanced at him, then back at the others. “It's an old story. Never knew how true it was, but... the tale goes the heir to the Lions was locked up in a tower a long time ago. To protect him from something horrible. But it didn't work, and he was devoured by a monster. Pity too, as he was said to be such a gentle thing.”

Felix's tongue felt heavy. His fingers itched, and he gripped the edge of his sword tightly. “It's just a story.”

“Probably. Nobody ever goes that deep in, and nobody ever comes back. There's a reason the Empire won't come here.” The mayor sighed. “It's hard enough getting merchants to stop by, and sooner or later all our children will start moving southwards. But that's the way of things, I suppose.”

“Well... we'll let you get back to your dinner.” Sylvain stood up and gave a theatrical bow. “Do call on us again whenever you need to.”

Lysithea sighed. “But the harpies...”

“I'm sure we'll find you more.” The redhead grabbed onto Felix's shoulder, and the swordsman twitched back into reality. “Hey, Felix...”

“What?”

“Come on.” He pushed him, very gently, towards the exit.

He had _that_ voice.

Felix braced himself, watching as Lysithea walked briskly towards whatever passed for the village library. Or possibly to track down sugar. As long as she stayed within village limits, Felix didn't ask.

“Felix... you're going to do something stupid.” Sylvain said, breezily slinging his arm around Felix's shoulders. “Aren't you?”

“Any more stupid than trying to sleep with a nymph?”

“That was _once_ , and I didn't know at the time.” The redhead sighed. “But... seriously. I know you. And I know you're good at avoiding certain _subjects_ so, just... don't, okay? Whatever you're thinking, sleep on it. And in the morning, we'll move _south_.”

As if he needed to take directions from some highborn noble that had become a Hunter just to spite his father. As if Sylvain...

Never mind.

“I'm going to bed.” He untangled himself from the taller man. “Don't sleep with anyone with purple eyes.”

“It was _once_ , Felix!!”

He hadn't had this dream in a long time.

At least, Felix had always thought them to be dreams. Some childhood fairy tale that he'd thought of based on some story his father had told him when he was young and precocious, and before Glenn had lost almost everything because of him.

The tower looked different from the top. He could see the flowers as little dots of color, and the statues looked less random – a scene that was playing out of beasts and brave knights surrounded by greens and yellows and blues.

The boy was here, but of course he was. Felix watched as he swung a long wooden lance with practiced movements, and his mind couldn't seem to think up a word other than _pretty_.

The boy looked upwards, and broke into a broad smile This time he was older; the onset of puberty beginning to shift the baby fat around his face into angles. Sometimes he was younger too, but this was a shape Felix didn't mind, if he was going to dream up some weird blonde. At least they were the same height.

He watched for a few more minutes, indulging in the soft breeze and the quiet chirp of birds. Eventually, the blonde stopped and began to ascend the stairs.

“Hi.” he said, still smiling. His blonde hair was shorter, and stuck to his forehead. It looked kind of ridiculous.

“Hi.” Felix parroted, because his brain never quite worked right in his own dream.

“You're here.”

“Yeah.” Felix hesitated, glancing towards the lance. “You're good. With that.”

“Thanks. I...” he stopped, turning his head. Somewhere in the distance, Felix heard stones groaning and a horse nicker quietly. “Come inside, all right?”

“Wha...” Felix grumbled sourly as he was herded through an iron door and in to a small side-room.

He had only been inside the tower a few times, and always in brief moments that he couldn't seem to remember when he woke up. It was bigger on the inside somehow, and occasionally he'd glance a blue bed or a weapons rack or even occasionally a small chair and some books stacked up next to some loose papers.

“Highness? Is that you?”

“Gilbert! Good morning!”

Felix tried to peek his head out, but it never worked. Even if he could make the strange boy out, the other face was blurry, if he could see them at all.

“You finished your training for the day? Is there anything else you need?”

“No, thank you. I... ah, is... my father...” the boy fumbled, unsteady. “Is there any news?

“Nothing that need concern you.” Felix heard heavy footsteps, and then the quiet clink of weapons being put back in their place on rack. “He did send you a letter and a new book.”

“Oh... yes. I will attend to it then.” The boy's footsteps were much more pronounced as he followed whoever-Gilbert-was. “You will tell me, won't you? About the war?”

“There is no war, Highness. Not yet, at least. Now – if you wish for me to...”

“Oh no, not at all. If you don't mind, I was going to lie down for a bit.”

“Ah Yes. My apologies then. I will be outside.” The heavy footsteps went away, and then Felix heard a familiar groan of a door.

The boy peeked his head in, “Sorry.”

“Who's Gilbert?” He had to have asked before, surely. He'd just forgotten... probably.

“My tutor.” The blonde pulled him free, in to a small circular room covered in a thick plush rug. Felix caught sight of his daffodils, set carefully in a vase next to an open window. Still stubbornly clinging to life, even as their petals tinged with brown. “I... don't know how much time we have. Could you – you were telling me about your brother, right?”

Was he?

“What did I tell you?” Something about Glenn tugged at his memories, but what it was, Felix couldn't seem to gather together. Dreams never did follow a pattern.

“That he's the bravest and strongest, and he took down a manticore by himself.”

Felix sniffed. “Well, he's _sort of_ impressive. It wasn't really a full grown manticore. And my dad helped out.” Yes. That seemed right.

The boy sat down cross-legged across from him, enraptured by Felix's dramatic tale. Felix told him about Glenn, and Rodrigue, and the spray of the ocean when they'd traveled there one summer on the way to an Outpost.

“You should see it. The ocean. You feel so small when you look at it.” Infinite, almost, and Felix wondered what was past it. Ships came in and out, and the sailors there talked about lands beyond, and people who flew on white wyverns.

“I wish I could see it.” the boy's eyes dimmed, voice going quiet. “Do you... do you believe in destiny?”

“No. Glenn says that destiny is stupid and just a way for fortunetellers to make a coin.” _You make your own destiny_ , his father had said one day as he gently smoothed Felix's hair back. _Remember that_.

“Yes...” the boy smiled, and Felix didn't like it at all. “You make it sound so simple.”

But it _was_ simple. Wasn't it?

“I'll take you myself. This tower is boring.” Not when there were oceans and monsters and Goddess knew what else out there.

“If I... that is to say, no...” he hesitated, curling his hands, "it is a pleasant thought, isn't it?"

The door groaned behind them.

Felix woke up.


	3. Search for a Scholar

Lysithea was missing.

Because of _course_ she was missing.

“You know, maybe it wasn't the best idea to agree to take a magical researcher with us.” Sylvain sighed, sweeping his gaze along the horizon leading towards the old forest. “The spells are nice, but I can live without tracking down a tiny girl before she gets herself eaten by something with way too many teeth.”

“I thought you said _I_ was going to do something stupid.” Felix was already looking closely at the dirt path for a familiar small bootprint.

“You _are_ going to do something stupid. You just haven't gotten around to it yet.” Sylvain sighed. “Sometimes I wonder if I'm the responsible one. I really, truly don't want to be the responsible one here.”

Sometimes, it was best to ignore Sylvain.

The forest was suspiciously quiet as they moved farther and farther away from the village. The kind of preternatural quiet that only came from age and things that not even an experienced Hunter could deal with. If they had a chance to fight at all.

“Didn’t you and Glenn…” Sylvain whispered.

“Shut up.”

“Sorry, sorry.” The redhead rubbed uneasily at the back of his neck. “Touchy subject, I know. How is he doing anyway?”

Besides missing his arm and almost completely blind? “None of your business.”

“Maybe you could stop avoiding him. I bet he misses you.”

“And maybe _you_ can stop being irritating for a change.”

“Felix...” Sylvain's voice dropped, disappointed.

All right. Maybe he deserved that. “Sorry.”

“I know, you're usually sorry. But you gotta stop this whole lone wolf thing. What good is it to act like they're already dead and gone?”

It wasn't that. Not really. He _knew_ Glenn was alive, and Rodirgue too, safe (more safe, at least) in the Hunter's Guild, but that was where they needed to be. Felix could keep moving ahead, untethered, and not drag anyone else down with him. Just as long as he kept moving forward, he didn't need to look back.

“The landscape's changing. You feel it?” Sylvain's eyebrows furrowed, and Felix reached for his weapon. Just in case.

The air grew very heavy, and the smell of earth grew even stronger. In front of them, the trees began to mix with old stone, almost completely covered in thick green moss.

Felix breathed.

In front of them, the trees parted, revealing a field of blue flowers and crumbling stone walls. Bits and pieces of old, rusted armor were jutting up from the ground, with the dulled blood red of Imperial armor. Shields and weapons too, were left to rot, already half-covered in dirt and green..

“Wow. This is...”

Felix was already moving. He knelt down, tracing his thumb along the edges of the curled up blue petals. “Fhirdiad Anemones.”

“That's an ill omen if I've ever seen one.” Sylvain shuddered. “Guess that whole Empire fighting a north kingdom story wasn't just a rumor.”

“We need to leave.” Felix couldn't quite bring himself to move, even when his common sense was telling him to go the other way. He could.... he could smell _winter_ , and something inside his chest ached terribly.

“I know but...” Sylvain groaned. “Hey, look over there.”

And indeed, there was a familiar tuft of white hair sticking up from behind a crumbled partition.

Felix growled. “Lysithea....”

The young mage perked her head up, blinking. “Oh! I was wondering when you two would come along.”

“Yeah, well, we had to save you from getting eaten.” Sylvain walked over to her, still gripping his weapon. “So let's call the research off for now.”

“I won't get eaten.” She snorted. “And you're not my babysitters. Besides, this place is special.” She reached down to pull up a small crystal, glowing with unnatural blue light. “It's a Locus. I think.”

“A...”

“A Locus. A place that _breeds_ magic. The old kind, not what we're taught now. It can potentially warp nature, and even time. Very valuable, if you're in to that thing.” She slid the crystal back in to her pouch and went back to writing in her journal. “And the ruins – very interesting. I can't correlate them with any civilization that...”

Something roared.

Lysithea looked up, just in time for Felix to leap in front f her.

A black shadow rushed through the edge of their vision. And then, with another horrendous shriek, something _huge_ burst out in front of them.

The beast was hideous – a mix of a lion and a wolf, with two huge, jagged tusks still covered in blood and viscera. It was black with rotting scales and and a long, wicked barbed tail that swung back and forth, waiting to strike.

“What is _that_?!” Sylvain moved in front of the small mage, lance at the ready.

The thing roared again, revealing a mouth full of sharp yellow-red teeth. Felix raised his sword, forcing himself to stay calm. He could get Lysithea and Sylvain out, surely...

The beast's glowing, serpentine eyes fixed on him, full of malice and rage.

“Watch ou - !“

He dodged the leap, but didn't have a chance to swerve as the huge tail slammed in to his arm. Felix was flung backwards onto the earth as Sylvain launched himself forward and Lysithea scrambled to hide behind a wall of stone. The beast snapped downwards, missing Felix's hand by mere inches. He kicked up, digging around for a spare knife he kept on his belt.

The tail slammed down again, jarring him in the chest. Felix cried out, and the beast's jaws tightened around his weapon.

The dark-haired man wheezed, struggling to sit up as his weapon was forcibly yanked from his grip. The beast drew back, tail poised...

Two bursts of flame slammed into it – one at its face, the other at its feet.

The monster jumped back, shaking its head as its skin singed. Another burst of flame and its tail slammed into stone, spreading it everywhere. Lysithea wailed as a huge piece of rock barely missed her and Sylvain jumped forward, curling into a protective roll as he pulled her to safety.

The beast turned, slamming its huge claws into earth as it ran away from the group

With Felix's sword

The Hunter stood up, clutching weakly at his chest. No. No... absolutely not...

“Felix! Don't you _dare_!”

Felix ran.

The beast stumbled along, Felix behind it. Red blood was leaking from its injured paw, but that only served to provide a better trail to follow.

It finally paused in front of a huge, unnatural ravine. The monster turned, snorting blood and rage as it hissed at Felix.

Felix pulled out a spare dagger. His entire body felt like it was on fire, but absolutely nothing would stop him from his goal. “Give that to me. _Now_.”

It stepped back, tail still swatting back and forth. Its head tilted, pacing slightly as it considered the Hunter. The sword still gleamed between yellowed teeth, a mockery of its usual beauty.

“That's _mine_.” Felix stepped forward, again. “And you _will_ give it back to me.”

The beast raised itself on its hindquarters, just as Felix rushed forward.

The momentum sent them both tumbling backwards, the dirt crumbling into the ravine and them with it.

And they fell down, down, down....


	4. Prophecy for a Prince

Someone warm was pressed up against him. Felix looked down, only a little surprised to see blonde hair tickling at his chin. Strange. Something else had happened, if he could just remember what. Something decidedly unpleasant. He wasn’t _supposed_ to be on a bed with someone else.

“You’re poking me.” He finally said, gripping the blanket that covered them both with too-small hands. “An…”

The boy yanked the covers over them before Felix could mount a protest.

There were voices outside, muffled by a wooden door and the blue blankets they were hidden beneath. A woman’s voice and… Gilbert? Wasn’t that the man’s name?

“His education seems to be going quite well. I must admit I’m impressed.” The woman said. 

“Indeed, His Highness is all too eager to please. He even expressed interest in riding, but….”

“Are you going somewhere with that, Gilbert?”

“Surely he could step outside the perimeter of this place, just for an hour or so. It is important for a future heir to know his own country, and he has not seen anything but these stone walls for _months_.”

“You know what the Priestess said just as well as I do. Before his 18th birthday, Dimitri will be consumed whole by a bloodthirsty beast. And then…”

The boy – _Dimitri_ \- curled tighter against him and hid a tiny shiver.

“And then the kingdom will fall.” Felix heard a sigh of despair. “But to hide him away here instead of his home…”

“This is the most sacred ground of the kingdom. Or do you not trust me, Gilbert?” The woman scoffed. “It is what the Queen ordered. For _his_ safety, as well as our land’s continued existence.”

“I understand. But I do not like it, “ Felix glowered as he heard heavy footsteps. “I will refill the pantry and see to his needs. Please let His Majesty know of his son’s progress.”

“Do be careful, Gilbert. We wouldn’t want anything _unnatural_ coming in to this place. Good day.”

“Good day, Cornelia.”

There was another noise of a door groaning opened and closed, and then silence.

Dimitri made a tiny sniffle. Felix looked down, aware that their hands were tangled together as the blonde held on for dear life.

“Is that why you’re stuck here? Some stupid prophecy?” Felix had heard all sorts of stories about prophecies over the years – Hunters had _prophecies about_ prophecies, and they all ended badly. “That’s…”

“I don’t want to be eaten. But… I’m more worried about everyone else. If the monster finds me… what will happen to them?” Those big blue eyes looked up at him, waiting for,… something. Something that always made Felix’s stomach hurt.

“I’m a Hunter. I _kill_ monsters.” Well, he would. Someday. Just like his father and Glenn. “So… don’t worry about it. I’ll protect you. “

“Thank you.” Dimitri curled their fingers together, looking at Felix like he was the only thing in the world. “Will you stay here? For a little while longer? I want to hear more of what you’ve seen. Did you and Glenn fight that echidna you said you were going to take out?”

That echidna…

That was right…

Glenn had…

Felix opened his eyes and wished very much he hadn’t.

His whole body _ached_ , and he was fairly certain he had a bruised rib, among other injuries. His legs felt like they were being pricked by tiny little frozen needles. Paralysis? Broken nerves?

Or… just water.

Very, very cold water.

He huffed, dragging himself into a sitting position. Indeed, he was on the bed of a shallow river, but looking upwards revealed he was at the bottom of a very deep ravine. An unnatural one, with jagged angles and few spots of greenery.

As if some _thing_ had cracked the earth open.

There was a low rumble from behind him. Felix swung his gaze backwards and saw the beast crouched down, eyeing him warily. It was balancing on its right and Felix could see fresh red blood gleaming against his hindquarter.

“You…” he growled, reaching for his weapon.

That he didn’t have.

“Give it _back_.” For anyone else, perhaps it was irrational to speak to some mindless beast that had tried to kill you. But it wasn’t like he had much choice, and the damned thing served as just as good of a target for Felix’s ire as any. 

Especially when he could see gleaming silver beneath the beast’s clawed paw.

“That sword is _mine_.”

The beast hissed, swinging its tail back and forth. Its ears flattened, and Felix reached weakly for whatever jagged stone he could find. Felix Hugo Fraldarius would never go down without taking his opponent with him.

Another hiss. The beast drew its lip back to reveal yellowed teeth, but it didn’t attack. Yet.

“It was given to me by… someone special. After I trounced him in a swordfight.” Slowly, weakly, Felix found the strength to stand. His knee protested, but Hunters were nothing if not resilient. “So unless you want me to wrestle you into submission, you _will give it back_.”

The beast’s ears twitched. It made a low rumble, unmoving as Felix limped forward, armed with only a river rock.

And then it stepped back.

Felix glowered, considering if it was some sort of trap. Most monsters weren’t known to be _intelligent_ ; they were wild beasts after all. But they could be clever enough to use traps for their future victims.

He grabbed onto the sword and some of his irritation settled. Felix looked down at his weapon, relieved to see it was mostly intact. The cord had torn and the leather fallen off, but the lion etching wasn’t scratched and the handle only had a minor dent.

There were faint teeth marks running along the blade, but nothing that couldn’t be repaired.

If he ever escaped to _get_ it repaired.

The beast stood up, swaying. It made another low rumble and limped away. Felix chose not to follow it.

Ever Hunter knew the bare minimum of magic. Not enough to use it like a mage could, and decidedly not enough to succumb to the lure of more… arcane activities. That always ended in blood and death, if not something worse. But enough to heal minor injuries, and enough to at least get a fire going and survive in harsh wilderness.

He still hurt all over, and it would be a few days before he’d be back to fighting strength. But at least he hadn’t lost anything too important.

Not like Glenn.

Maybe Sylvain was right about seeing him again. Even if Glenn hated his little brother, at least…

Something moved in the darkness. Felix narrowed his eyes, clutching to his sword like a lifeline. A shade would be bad. A shadow person would be _very_ bad…

There was a wet, squelching sound as a large bass flopped onto the ground several feet away from Felix’s small fire.

Felix stared, confused as he saw a movement of night-black paws disappear again.

“I can’t _cut_ that,” he said to no one in particular.

There was no answer. Not that he was expecting any. He huffed and crept over, careful to grab onto the slimy thing and drag it back towards the fire. 

“Sorry.” He muttered sourly as he gripped his sword. “You don’t deserve this.”

Sleeping was always a dangerous proposition when you were alone. You wanted to be high, and limit the number of places you could be attacked. Everything that Felix currently _wasn’t_. He’d at least managed to settle in a crevice against the cliff, but it was hardly comfortable.

He almost missed the sound of Sylvain’s snorts and Lysithea’s mumbled sleep-conversations.

Felix did not dream that night.

When he woke up, there was a deer with a broken neck waiting near the river.

The beast reappeared the next day, with only the tiniest scarring visible against its black scales. It watched Felix warily as the Hunter plodded towards the river to try and at least wash some of the grime off his face.

“Do you know how to get out of here?”

Its ears twitched. The beast loped forward, head down and a cold look in its rusted brown eyes. Felix stiffened, but he didn’t reach for his weapon.

The beast walked past him and farther down the river. It looked back, tail still twitching in vague anticipation.

It wasn’t like staying here was doing any good.

Felix followed.

The beast led him to what could only be described as a crumbling set of stairs, broken and covered in various rock pileups and Goddess knew what else. Whole pieces were missing, but he could see how it had, at one point, allowed for someone to move up and down the sharp planes of the ravine.

Felix still scoffed. “You really think that any sane person would climb that?”

The beast jumped up with all the grace of a cat onto a small platform. It looked down at Felix and snorted.

“Whatever. I still might kill you.” He grunted in pain as he took the first step, then the second.

He was a Fraldarius.

He could do this.

It took most of the day to climb upwards and several breaks for Felix to breathe through a burst of pain or take a small guzzle of water. The beast always stayed farther ahead, still watching Felix as though he was some strange, unwelcome creature.

There were neutral monsters in the world that only cared if someone stepped in to their territories. There may have even been one or two _good_ ones, like the wyverns that could be trained to be mounts so long as you gave them enough fish and didn’t mind losing a finger or few. Still, Felix couldn’t shake the feeling that this was something else. An old breed of wolf, twisted by the dark magic of some arcane practitioner, perhaps, or just warped by living so close to whatever Lysithea had been on about.

That night, at the edge of the ravine, Felix wasn’t surprised as the beast returned with a young fawn in its mouth. It dropped the creature down and sat not too far away, watching the Hunter with mild interest.

“You know, I can eat fruits and mushrooms just as easily,“ he sighed, gripping the handle of his sword. “You could even bring me a _hunting knife_ , if you wanted to be helpful.”

Still, this time, as the meat cooked under a small fire, he made sure to toss a few scraps to the beast.

They weren’t in the tower this time.

The flowers were on fire.

Felix hadn’t ever seen so much fire. Not when he and his father had attended an Imperial ceremony, or when he and Glenn had fought together against an echidna, and the beast had tried torching them both. He still remembered the scream of pain as Glenn had protected him, had lost his entire arm in trying to shield his stupid little brother from his own impetuousness.

But this…

He heard screams. The metallic clang of weapons, and the crackle of magic bearing down above the skies.

He couldn’t find the boy. Felix ran, looking this way and that, and somehow…. Something was very very wrong.

He stopped short as he saw a flash of blue and black, and a lance flying through the air into someone’s throat.

Dimitri turned, staring at Felix with wide, enraged eyes. His face was covered in specks of blood, and his breathing was harsh.

“You…” Felix started, dazed. This wasn’t one of his dreams. It wasn’t _right_. A nightmare, brought on by stress.

“It’s coming.” The blonde’s hand moved to his face, smearing more of the redness. “It’s too late now.”

Felix heard a vicious roar that made the earth shudder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You ever have a cat that brings you a dead critter and is all like "hey why don't you eat this the proper way you ingrate you have no teeth no claws why do I have to do this FOR YOU"
> 
> I had a cat that would do that on my birthday. Every year.


	5. A Tower For Travelers

Felix was on his feet in an instant. The sun hadn't quite started to crest, but there was still enough light to see two figures in the distance and one very, very angry beast fighting with them.

Dammit.

He hobbled towards them, whatever relief he might have felt in seeing familiar red hair snuffed out by his fellow Hunter doing something _reckless_. Sylvain and Lysithea both looked his way, but that gave the beast the perfect opportunity to slam its huge paw into Sylvain's side.

He was thrown bodily into a tree, and Felix could hear the crack. Lysithea raised her hand, forming the first incantation of a spell.

“Enough!” The beast slammed its shoulder into a tree with enough force that it began to fall towards the small mage. “Hey! Are you listening?!”

“It's mad!” Lysithea shouted towards him, and Felix snarled as he saw a fireball singe past his temple again. If she wanted to see _mad_...

“ _ **Stop**_!” Felix flung himself forward, arm raised up just as the beast surged downwards, jaws open wide.

Time seemed to slow, and all Felix could see was his brother, his arm ruined for the rest of his life...

The beast was very still, its jagged teeth a hair's breadth from Felix's skin. Its brown eyes focused only on the black-haired man, waiting.

Felix breathed. “Both of you stand down.”

“Felix?” Lysithea whispered, just as Sylvain said a very ungentlemanly curse.

“ _Stand down_.” he repeated,

Lysithea dropped her hand, and Sylvain weakly tossed his lance aside.

Slowly, Felix lowered his arm. The beast's jaw snapped shut and it snorted its displeasure with a horrible blast of rotten air. Felix glared back.

It turned around, loping to a patch of grass several feet away to sit and stare sullenly at the three of them.

“Gee.” Sylvain wheezed. “What do you know? Felix did something stupid after all.”

“I should just let him _eat you_.” Felix didn't look back, but he did listen intently as Sylvain slowly lurched to his feet. “How bad is it?”

“Think I have a bruised rib. But... I've had worse.” Sylvain rubbed tiredly at the back of his neck. “Glad you're alive, Felix.”

“Yeah...” Felix let some of his tiredness leak through. “Yeah. Same.”

“What _is_ that, anyway?” Lysithea took a step forward, or tried to before Felix grabbed the back of her collar. “It doesn't look like a chimera. A magic experiment, perhaps? Is it intelligent? Are there more of them?”

“Maybe we _shouldn't_ treat the thing that just tried to tear us into pieces as a research topic?” Sylvain grimaced. “In fact, let's leave it _completely_ alone.”

The beast's ears flattened and it growled, tail thumping against the grass.

“I don't think it liked that.” Lysithea added unhelpfully.

Felix' head throbbed, and he could still distantly smell smoke and blood. “Let's just go.”

“If we head southwest, we should be able to get back out. Or, I hope so.”

_It's too late now_.

“Far as we can tell, directions are...”

“They're curving. I can't believe you don't want to go farther in.” Lysithea sighed longingly. “This potentially proves the theory that there _was_ a north kingdom. Not only that, but if they did indeed have access to so much magic...”

_I don't want to be eaten_.

The beast was somewhere behind the three of them. Felix couldn't see it, but he didn't need to when he felt like inhuman eyes were fixated right on his back.

“Yeah, I'm sure the people at the _Imperial_ Magic Academy would love to hear the truth that _they_ covered up. Anyway.. Felix, hey, Felix?”

“I'm listening.” Felix lied.

“Right. I can tell.” Sylvain frowned. “ _Are_ you okay?”

“Just...” The swordsman stopped, glancing down at the hilt of his weapon.

“What is it? Is he ill?” Lysithea pawed around in her bag. “I believe I have some herbs in here somewhere...”

“Lysithea.”

“Ah. Here we are.” She pulled out a paper-wrapped group of green-brown stems. “Or is this for rashes... sorry. You were saying?”

“I want to go north.” It sounded ridiculous, when he said it. “I want to find the tower.”

“Wait...” Sylvain grimaced. “Are you having them again? The... dreams?”

“Dreams?” Lysithea tilted her head. “You have dreams?”

Never tell anyone about your dreams, his father had always said. Best case scenario, they declared you mad. Worst case scenario, you were dragged away by the Imperial alchemists for “research.”

“I think someone needs my help. Here.” He looked at Lysithea, “You said that... locust thing warps time, right?”

“ _Locus_ ,” she sighed. “Don't they teach you anything at Hunter... come to think of it is there a Hunter school? I imagined you just picked up a weapon and went at it.”

“Time warping.” Felix repeated, because Lysithea probably _didn't_ need to hear all the... pleasant stories about becoming a Hunter. Most of which just came down to _survival_

“Oh. Yes. It's not understood perfectly, but it's possible around a Locus for past, present, and future to coexist. Even _places_ can potentially merge. Of course, these things tend to cause people to lose their sanity which is why we only have secondhand accounts...” She paused, “So.. why do you believe this is connected to a tower?”

“It's...” He didn't want to say it. He liked Lysithea, but...

“An old story.” Sylvain sighed, weakly patting Felix's shoulder. “You sure we can't go south? I hear the beaches are _fantastic_ this time of year.”

_I'll protect you._

_I promise_.

“I...” why was he so bad with words? “Thanks... for looking for me. But I think....” no, “I _need_ to be here.”

“Great. Just what I always wanted.”

“Right.” Lysithea set her shoulders and looked determinedly ahead. “I should be able to track it. Hopefully.”

It was surprising, that for so many days in the same forest, Felix still felt like he was intruding somehow. Lysithea stayed in the front, her gaze fixed on a glowing blue crystal she held carefully in her palms.

“Never knew you wanted to be a hero.” Sylvain murmured softly, “It's... nice. You usually just want to kill monsters and be done with it.”

“I'm not good with people.” Felix grimaced. His body still hurt, and the temperature had dropped considerably. There were more signs of old, ruined architecture – a stack of stones here, a crumbling stone building there. Most of the decay seemed deliberate – as though someone had gone through and knocked over whatever they could with some absurdly large cudgel.

Not just destroying. _Erasing_.

“You wonder why the Empire hated this place so much?”

“Same reason it hates any place. Because they aren't the Empire.” Hunters tended to be frank about the state of the world. The Empire usually didn't care, so long as they had less of a monster problem. It was an uneasy truce that only held so long as Hunters didn't get political.

“Still. This is....”

“Unpleasant.” Felix finished. Goddess, it was cold. Fewer and fewer things were growing, save for more patches of curled-up blue flowers that stubbornly clung to worn stones.

“I think we're getting close.” Lysithea looked up. “Very close.”

Felx's throat tightened.

It looked wrong.

It _felt_ wrong.

Felix saw two landscapes that his mind struggled to make sense of. A tower, just as he remembered, and one that was only a skeletal remain of itself; hollowed out and covered in mossy slime and littered with blood-red remains of armor.

“I feel sick.” Sylvain grimaced.

“Oh. This is fascinating. And kind of gross.” Lysithea held her crystal up as it shone. “But... what do we do now?”

Behind them, there was a familiar snarl. Felix turned, just in time to see the black beast run forward, straight into the crackling perimeter.

He'd led the thing right to Dimitri.


	6. Battle for a Beast

“Felix! Don’t yo…!”

Felix ran after the beast, straight into the Locus. It felt as though he was being covered in a thick, heavy slime that plugged up his nose and throat. Unfamiliar, invisible pressure crushed around him, and he was absolutely certain his bones would be turn to dust.

He would get through whatever it was.

He _had_ to get to Dimitri. No matter what.

With an almost audible crack, the air cleared and he fell into a heap against the ground. His vision swam as he groaned. 

There were voices. Lots of voices. And a distant, unpleasant smell of smoke.

 _Dammit_.

He rose to his feet, just in time to see a soldier in blood red charging towards him. Felix blocked an attack and slammed his sword into the other’s armor, shoving his attacker onto the ground. The helmet fell off, revealing some young teenager with wide eyes.

“Stay down,” Felix barked, and his opponent at least had the sense to do so. Felix ignored him in favor of surveying their surroundings – a battlefield on fire, with red and silver clashing all over the place.

Dimitri…

The tower stood, but the ground around it was blackened and scarred. Dead bodies littered the earth, and Felix suppressed a shudder. People weren’t meant to bend that way. 

“That’s… ugh, that’s disgusting.” Felix heard from somewhere behind him.

“I thought you were against doing something stupid.” 

“Yeah, well, I figured you’d had enough adventures of your own.” Sylvain stepped forward, and Felix could see the unease in how he held himself. Sylvain came from luxury, and Felix had to admit he was handling their surroundings incredibly well, all things considered. “So he’s supposed to be up there, right?”

Felix’s heart hammered. No – the last time he’d seen the blonde he’d been on the battlefield, wild, covered in blood, somewhere out in the chaos. “I don’t think so. Not anymore.”

“So then we…”

An angry roar echoed all around them, followed by a magical crack that reverberated in his very being. Felix fell backwards, and Sylvain grabbed onto him for stability as the earth shuddered beneath the feet.

That thing was here.

And looking for Dimitri.

“I’m going to find that thing. Before it…”

“Yeah, you do that.” Sylvain let out a shaky breath, “I’ll see if I can guard this place for when you… get back. Because you _are_ coming back.” The redhead gripped Felix’s shoulder. “Lysithea’s on the other side. She just told us to be as quick as we can, because this place might not be so stable. Wherever – or whenever – it is.”

“Thanks.” Felix slowly, cautiously, gripped to Sylvain’s hand. “For… everything.”

“Yeah, let’s _not_ have that be our last conversation, can we?”

There was another enraged roar.

Felix braced himself and headed out, into the heat of battle.

It was worse on the inside. Felix had been trained to fight monsters, and many years of experience had honed his instincts against all sorts of creatures. But monsters were _easy_ – predictable, really. But people…

He ducked and dodged, weaving through the chaos as best he could. The muddied ground made movement difficult, and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the fights. Mages were launching magical attacks from somewhere beyond him, and he had to ignore the screams of pain as fireballs fell from the heavens onto Kingdom and Empire forces alike.

Felix didn’t like hurting people. Especially not soldiers, who didn’t exactly _choose_ to be doing the dirty work of the nobles who commanded them.

It didn’t mean that they weren’t trying to hurt _him_ in return.

There was no sign of black armor anywhere, let alone golden hair. He pushed himself forward, deeper into the battlefield as he caught movement from a nearby hill. One lone man in silver-white armor was slinging a huge, blunted-edge axe around, clearing a path for other troops.

“Gilbert…” Yes, it must have been. He ran forward, knocking another Imperial soldier out of the way and slamming the end of his sword into another’s chest. “Gilbert!’

The man turned his head, and for the first time, Felix could make out weathered, worn features and bright red hair that reminded him of Annette’s. The redhead stepped back, huge axe held outwards.

“State your purpose, stranger.”

“Where is he? Where’s Dimitri?!” He didn’t have time for this. None of them did. “That thing… it’s _here_.”

The old warrior’s eyes widened. “No… you… you know of him?”

“I don’t have time to explain myself.” Felix swerved, blocking a blow. “Where can I find him?”

They both turned as another loud, angry roar echoed through the battle.

“Oh no…” Gilbert’s voice took on a frightened turn. “No… His Highness is… we’re too late…” Somewhere in the distance, the flash of black scales was rampaging through a sea of red armor, somehow more hideous and twisted than before. He could hear screams as the beast swatted them like flies, over and over again.

“Where is he? I can save him before that thing gets to him.” He would. He _had_ to.

“That _is_ His Highness.”

The chaos of battle faded, and Felix was certain he’d been clubbed on the head. “What?”

“He has been utterly consumed with rage. It is what we always feared.”

That…

Realization crawled through Felix, an uncomfortable chill offsetting the burning heat of the battlefield. His heart hammered, and he was certain he would be ill. “You didn’t put him in that tower to protect him. You did it to _cage_ him.” 

“For his own safety.”

“He was _alone_!” And afraid, and with no one to confide in but Felix.

Goddess….

Gilbert bowed his head, and Felix seethed. 

“We were afraid, for him, as well as for ourselves. But… we cannot undo what is done. If you can somehow reach him… I will do whatever I must to save what is left of him. As long as His Highness lives, our Kingdom lives on within him.”

“I don’t _want_ your help.” Felix surveyed the battlefield, trying to trace a pathway to where the black creature – _Dimitri_ \- was fighting with a huge battalion of mages. “Give me a horse.”

“I will cover you. Please… take him somewhere safe.” Gilbert looked out, at the ravaged landscape and the cracks where the earth itself was coming apart. “Somewhere far from here.”

The beast was covered in arrows and open wounds, and just looking at it turned Felix’s stomach. It thrashed, snapping its jaws at some red-armored general that had a very nasty looking lance.

The entire space around them was littered with corpses.

“Dimitri!” Felix jumped off his horse, rolling into a crouch in between the general and the beast.

The general thrust his weapon forward and Felix fell back, swatting at it with his sword. It provided only a moment before the beast took the opportunity to push past Felix and land right on the other’s body with a sickening crunch.

Felix felt ill.

“Enough! We have to get out of here!” He had to save him. He _could_ save him. Otherwise, why would he be here? Why would he have spent so many years connected to the boy? “Dimitri!”

Dimitri growled, swinging his huge head to glower at the swordsman. In the distance, Felix could see the bright glint of magic aimed at them.

The ground rumbled.

Dammit. 

“It’s over.” Felix said, warningly. “This battle’s _over_. You already lost!”

Another snarl.

“It’s _over_! We have to leave!”

“I’m not letting them die again!”

Time stopped, and somehow, the beast’s face twisted into a hideous caricature of _human_. The noise of battle stopped, along with it the air itself seemed to go completely, utterly _still_.

Felix shuddered. The shape of the world around them was growing more and more off, and he could feel an unpleasant pressure on his body.

“Everyone… I can… protect them,” The Dimitri-creature said, slowly, struggling against mismatched teeth and a throat unused to words. “This time, I’ve...”

“How many times?”

Dimitri blinked.

“How many times have you been here? Fighting this?” Felix felt an unsteady, panicked logic starting to form. “How many years have you been in those ruins, waiting around, _alone_?”

“I…” Dimitri’s face shifted, twisting. 

“I’m here. This time. _We’re_ here.” Felix dropped the sword and reached upwards, determined. “Didn’t I promise to save you?”

“They’re all dying because of me….” Dimitri swayed; his legs and body becoming clumsy as it vacillated between human and monster. “Because I was not there…”

“I don’t care. We’re leaving.” Felix touched the scaled skin, watched as it turned more and more human. More familiar. “Let’s leave. Let’s never see that damned tower ever again.”

Dimitri fell forward, and Felix felt his body struggle to catch the weight of him. He cursed as they both collapsed to the ground, and then the only sound was an anguished sob from someone who had been in pain for far too long.

Lysithea heard the crack. It was hard to describe to someone who wasn’t sensitive to magic outside of some random bubble popping in the back of your eardrums. Not painful, but unpleasant all the same.

The magic settled, drifting off to wherever magic went. She muttered her own spell, praying to the Goddess that there was still enough to work with

Sylvain flopped onto the grass in front of her with a groan. His armor was singed, and there was a decided _stench_ sticking to his skin.

“You look like garbage.”

“Hah.” Sylvain wheezed, flopping onto his back to look up at the sky. “I think I’ve had enough fun in forests for the rest of my life.”

“Where’s Felix?”

Sylvain sat up, “He… you didn’t pull him?”

Hah. As if she’d be that much of an amateur. “Of course I did. But it’s not like pulling a _rope_. It’s complicated but involves Saint Cichol’s Teleportation Theory of…”

Sylvain was already walking back towards the tower.

“ _Illiterate_ ,” Lysithea grumbled as she followed. “Who wouldn’t want to hear about magic?”

It didn’t look majestic, or depressing, or anything. Mostly, it just looked abandoned. Green crawled up the remaining architecture, and Lysithea could see the branches of a tree beginning to stick out from the top. Puddles of water were concentrated along the bottom, and she could sense the barest traces of magic starting to settle into the earth.

“So, where…” Sylvain grabbed onto her hood, pulling her back before she could squeak a protest.

Felix was sitting there, clutching at a (very naked) man. Around them, there was a sea of bright yellow daffodils.


	7. Happiness for a Hunter

“Does it look all right? I can’t quite seem to…” Dimitri fumbled with the ties on his shirt, blinking.

“You’re hopeless.” Felix assisted with the complicated makeup of his clothes. His hands paused as they skimmed bare skin, and he looked away before Dimitri could _smile_ at him. “Just… like this.”

“Oh.”

Dimitri’s hand curled around his, warm, familiar, but still alien. Felix hadn’t really ever seen him at his proper age, and it was….

He didn’t have to look so _pretty_ , was all.

Especially not in some backwater village, in a too-small bedroom that kind of reeked like manure.

“I… thank you. Again.” Dimitri kept hold of his hand, and Felix thought about pixie nests and swamp lizards and anything other than the not-stranger looking at him. “Do you truly not mind me being here? With you?”

“Tch.” That was easy. “I told you – I was going to show you the ocean. Maybe… some other places too. Until you get a better idea about what you _want_ to do.” Felix finally glanced upwards, forcibly focusing on those blue eyes. “I… want to go see Glenn first. And my old man.” It had been far too long since he’d been home, and he’d been too much of an ass about it all. 

“I would like to meet him.” Dimitri leaned closer. “Felix…”

Felix’s heart thumped.

Dimitri’s lips were chapped, but they felt… nice, pressed against his own 

“I hope that is not too forward.”

Felix snorted quietly, drawing away.

“Hey, are you two… oh, well…” Sylvain coughed, “Guess I should have knocked.”

“Oh, no. Thank you.” Dimitri gave a half-bow that the redhead did not deserve. “And I appreciate all you’ve told me about current events. It seems I have much to learn.”

“Don’t trust _anything_ he tells you.” Felix glowered.

“Felix likes to be difficult, doesn’t he?” Sylvain winked. “So, you two ready to leave? We’re hoping to catch a boat over going entirely on foot. Lysithea has designs on hitting a library at the port city.”

“Thank you.” Dimitri released his hand, and Felix terribly missed his warmth. “Perhaps we could even find some descendants of the Kingdom along the way. The insignias of some of the Hunter’s Outposts you showed me did look familiar.”

“Yeah. See you downstairs.” Dimitri moved past him and there was a soft, steady thump as the blonde descended towards the exit.

“So…” Sylvain stretched, “Do you think..?”

“I don’t know.” Felix didn’t believe in fate.

But Dimitri had _something_ about him that seemed… larger. He doubted things would end with them wandering around killing monsters for the rest of their days.

He looked down at his sword, tracing the edges of the lion crest. 

He was weirdly fine with it.

“You know you can’t make fun of me for sleeping with a monster anymore.”

“Sylvain…”

“I’m just saying.” Sylvain followed him a safe distance away as they met their two traveling companions outside the inn, “You’re already taking him to meet your family…”

“ _I will cut you and mail you back to your family in pieces_.”

Dimitri watched, vexed. “Are they always like this?”

“Oh yes.” Lysithea pulled out her journal to begin making notes. “Some days, I prefer the harpies.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's done at any rate.  
> Thank you to all who have read it. It wasn't really the best structured, but I had a few ideas to keep myself entertained with. And a few notes because if anyone says sequel I will cry.
> 
> 1) Glenn was permanently blind and lost an arm trying to protect Felix from his impulsiveness. This is Glenn, so he just retired from hunting monsters and is instead teaching swordplay and being generally Better at it than most anyone.  
> 2) Rodrigue runs a Hunter's Outpost where he also helps organize things and low-key keep tabs on the goings-on around the country. He was a former noble but preferred to help people, with his sons following in his footsteps.  
> 3) Sylvain became a Hunter to tick off his father. He still retains his noble title and can go back home whenever he wants, but he likes Felix and traipsing around the continent, and Felix almost has to have a minder.  
> 4) Lysithea's pretty much going to be the #1 most rated researcher ever. Most mages go into military, academia, or secret groups but Lysithea's too much of an academic for any of that.  
> 5) Anemone flowers: Death, forsaken love /ill omens but also anticipation for the future and protection from evil .  
> Daffodils - Rebirth, new beginnings, happiness. (and negative ones too but let's roll with this part)  
> 6) Dedue was supposed to be a bear guarding the forest. That.. never got included. But somewhere there is a Dedue, waiting for the return of the True King.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey you know what I need in my life? MORE dumb fantasy AUs!!


End file.
